ICBC provides $68.6 million loan for GSM Mobile Network Expansion Project

In 2005, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bénin Télécoms S.A. — Benin’s incumbent state-owned telecommunications operator — signed a loan agreement worth $68,638,789 (CFAF 28,902,075,774). The borrowing terms of the loan were as follows: an interest rate of LIBOR plus a 1% margin, a 6-year maturity, and a 1-year grace period. On October 27, 2005, the Government of Benin issued a sovereign guarantee for this loan. The proceeds of the loan were to be used by the borrower to finance a commercial contract with ZTE for the construction of a GSM mobile network of 156,000 lines, which was signed on November 24, 2004. As of 31 December, 2011, Benin’s Ministry of Economy reported that CFAF 8,675,205,928 had been amortized, and CFAF 20,226,869,846 was outstanding. Then, in December 2014, Benin’s Ministry of Economy reported that CFAF 19,744,650,734 had been amortized, and CFAF 7,514,778,892 was outstanding. According to the World Bank and MOFCOM's 2019 Investment Guide, this project was completed; however, its precise project implementation start and end dates are unknown.

Additional details

1. This loan is not included in the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020. 2. The French project title is l'extenslon du réseau cellulaire mobile GSM et de celle du réseau conventionnel CDMA. 3. AidData has estimated the all-in interest rate by adding 1% to the average 6-month LIBOR rate (4.35%) in October 2005. 4. This government-guaranteed loan from ICBC does not appear to be captured in the World Bank’s Debtor Reporting System (DRS).”

Number of official sources

9

Number of total sources

11